Belstaff / Spring 2013 RTW

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Last time we checked in with Belstaff and its recently appointed creative director Martin Cooper, he had just begun connecting the 88-year-old brand to the elite travel tradition of the 1920s, 30s, and early 40s. (As he describes it, “that time when moving from one point to another was pure luxury.”) And the idea for spring 2013—Cooper’s first real stab at the season since joining the company in the summer of 2011—moves in a similar vein.

Looking at the collection itself, however, it’s easy to wonder if the pace at which this travel is being done hasn’t started to pick up a bit. Far from evoking images of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor tucking into a lavish eight-course meal on the deck of the HMS Queen Mary, the graphic stripes, canvas biker jackets, mesh leather tanks, and chunky wedge heels (cast in British racing green) seem to provoke a new sense of urgency that might still be about “moving from one place to another,” just this time as fast as possible. It doesn’t take a huge stretch of the imagination to interpret spring 2013’s omnipresent stripes as Steve McQueen–like versions, for instance, especially given Belstaff’s storied reputation as a maker of sturdy motorcycle wear.

Cooper, on the other hand, isn’t so sure.

“The idea for the stripes actually came from the ones you see on vintage luggage and old travel cases,” he says backstage after the show, getting back to the luxury-travel concept. “I just love the romanticism things like that evoke.”

Still, Cooper concedes, there is a mention (albeit a subtle one) of powerful women with a taste for speed and adventure hidden within the collection, and in terms of the bespoke-inspired leather utility wear he does so well it’s about as apt as you can possibly get.

“The jumpsuit is a slight reference to Amelia Earhart,” Cooper continues, referring to a military-green canvas aviation one-piece, which, as we saw in his fall and resort, plays on the shape of Belstaff’s classic Trialmaster jackets. The connection? “She used to wear Belstaff.” Of course.